The Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties think tank and pressure group, today calls on the British Government to repeal the Sex Offenders Act 1997, as amended by the Sexual Offences Act 2003. These laws require that persons convicted of sex offences involving children should be registered and their names made available to schools.

Dr Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance, comments:

"If people have committed serious acts of non-consensual violence, they should be punished in ways that deter or even prevent them from offending again. But it is wrong for the authorities to put people on lists that may prevent them from working ever again, regardless of other punishments, and that may open them to physical attack by those with access to the relevant electronic databases.

"In general, the paedophile witch-hunt in this country is to be deplored. At the bidding of a coalition that includes man-hating lesbians, sex-obsessed God botherers, empire-building social workers, corrupt and oppressive police officers, and the usual vote-hunting political trash, important procedural and substantive rights have been violated.

"Simple possession of certain pictures has been made a crime. Sexual acts committed on the far side of the world may now be crimes in this country - and can be tried on the basis of the corrupt and interested testimony of foreign prostitutes and police officers. Underage witnesses in child sex cases no longer need be sworn before giving evidence, and do not even have to give it in court. Conviction or caution for any sexual offence involving children has been made, via the registration process, into an unlimited punishment.

"And most of the convictions or cautions under the child sex laws do not involve violent attacks on or gross deception of children. They mostly involve looking at pictures.

"These are not laws to protect children. They are about policing the imagination.

"The sex offenders register does not even work. Unknown but possibly substantial number of convicted offenders continue to work with children. This is due to the incompetence and corruption that has in general reduced British criminal law to a sick joke."

Dr Sean Gabb is the Director of the Libertarian Alliance. He is the author of ten novels and ten other books, plus about a million words of journalism. He can be contacted for further comment on 07956 472 199 or by email at sean@libertarian.co.uk

His latest novel, The Break, has been nominated for the 2015 Prometheus Award.

Or another of his books, Smoking, Class and the Legitimation of Power, explains how the current "war" on smoking has nothing to do with making individuals healthy, but everything to do with enhancing the power of a totalitarian ruling class, and enriching its relevant client groups.

The Libertarian Alliance is Britain's most radical free market and civil liberties policy institute. It has published over 800 articles, pamphlets and books in support of freedom and against statism in all its forms. These are freely available at http://www.libertarian.co.uk